Monday, September 21, 2015

NO LONGER HOSTILE

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Last fall, I was struggling a little bit with feeling separate from and at odds with my husband. (He had no idea this was occurring . . . just a struggle within myself and for no particular reason that I could determine.) As I tried to work through it, a passage from Ephesians jumped out to me and really encouraged me. I wrote the verses on a small card to put by the sink and meditated on it for a couple of weeks.

. . . without hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.For He Himself is our peace,

who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier,

the dividing wall of hostility . . . (Ephesians 2:12-14)

This passage was originally written to Jews and Gentiles, and describes how God reconciled in Jesus the people of the covenant with those outside the covenant. But I began to see how God reconciles all sorts of people who are at odds: husband and wife, brother and sister, relationships with in-laws, relationships in the church, etc.

Without Christ, all people are naturally (humanly, sinfully) divided, hostile, and disconnected.
Without God, we are "without hope" and "far away." Even if we can't put our finger on the reason, sometimes there is a "barrier" and a "wall of hostility." Especially with our spouses.

But thanks be to God! His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:15-16)

We can't conjure up peace, oneness or a sense of connectedness. But "HE HIMSELF is our PEACE"! He becomes the peace between us. We are "brought near [to each other] through the blood of Christ" and He makes "the two one." No amount of therapy or sheer determination or trying to feel love again can replace the value of the Gospel in relationships: through the blood of Christ . . . through the cross. This is what reconciles us to God and to each other.

What a sigh of relief this was for me! I wasn't feeling peace between my husband and I, but as I prayed and clung to Jesus as our Peace, the hostility faded away and a sweet oneness was reborn.

Yes--TRUTH! (I think I'm still reaping the benefits of that girls retreat we did so many years ago!) Thank God for His faithfulness & mercy in reaching out to us through His Word--glad we can enjoy that together! Thanks for reading! Love you too!